Sunday, 22 May 2011

Living Dangerously

My deepest condolences and sympathy to the family members and friends of those who died or injured from the landslide which hit an orphanage in Hulu Langat, in the outskirt of Kuala Lumpur. Not only the victims are without parents, some of their guardians also perished during this unfortunate calamity.

This was not the first nor would be the last incidence of landslides around Kuala Lumpur. The Highland Tower incidence where one block of luxury apartments fell a part in Hulu Kelang should still be fresh in our memories. In fact, a number of other incidents around the Bukit Antarabangsa area reminded us the risk of living at hill slopes. In fact, to my mind, those who decided to live in those areas are high risk takers, notwithstanding whatever engineering miracle used to mitigate such risks.

As human, we do take risk on a daily basis. In fact, there is no life without risk. When we cross the roads, there could be some chance that a vehicle may skid and hit us. This applies to many other aspects of life. Those who are in business should understand this more as most believe that profits are the reward for the risk-taking activities that they undertook.

Some even have higher risk appetite by indulging into illegal activities to make money and pursue other worldly rewards. Drug dealers are among those falling into this category as the penalty upon conviction is death.

Worse would be those who abuse their powers for their individual gains. While some may justify that their conducts are for greater good, the bottom line is that they failed to honour the trust accorded to them. What makes things worse is when the society turn their blind eyes towards such disgusting conducts! Even for Muslims who believe that they would be judged in the hereafter, they are willing to take the chance just for a short stint of glory in this world.

Given that risks are around us, we should recalibrate our own risk appetite so that we understand both the upsides and downsides of our decision.

For Muslims, let us offer Al-Fatihah to the victim of the Hulu Langat landslide incident.